Reviving a once heralded tradition, the Georgia Festival of Trees unveiled its first Pink Pig train outside the Gas South Convention Center on Tuesday morning, giving dignitaries and media a test ride before the event officially launches Nov. 23.
There will be two trains, one named Penelope and the other Porter, for children to ride from Nov. 23 through Dec. 1 for $5 apiece. Tickets for the Festival of Trees itself are $18.95 each for children and adults, with a discounted $13.95 for seniors at gafestivaloftrees.org.
Like the original monorail of yore targeting toddlers and elementary school age children, the new trains feature a cheerful cartoonish pig’s face on the front.
Each train can carry 20 to 25 people. The conductor is able to release a piglike squeal of a horn and pump harmless smoke out of its chimney. A taped fictional audio story about each pig will play as the train goes around the convention hall, which will have 150 trees, a children’s play area and a stage for 150-plus performers. The ride will take about five minutes. Mascots dressed as the pigs will stroll the convention floor and offer photo ops.
Credit: Rodney Ho/AJC
Credit: Rodney Ho/AJC
The Pink Pig was ridden by millions of Atlanta children at Rich’s downtown department store as a monorail ride from the 1950s until 1991. After a brief stint at Egleston Children’s Hospital’s Festival of Trees, the original pigs Priscilla and Percival became museum relics at the Atlanta History Center.
In 2003, Federated, which merged Macy’s with Rich’s that year, resurrected a new version of the Pink Pig on a parking deck near Macy’s at Lenox Square in Buckhead. The train ride, under a pink and white tent, carried kids and their parents through a life-size storybook until 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic put the kibosh on that tradition.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Having the Pink Pig back brought back warm memories for Stan Hall, the chief executive officer of the Gas South District, which includes the convention center, the arena and a theater.
“I rode the original Pink Pig at Rich’s when I was really young,” said Hall, who grew up in Gwinnett County and rode the new one Tuesday as an adult. “It brings back great memories.”
Angie Ulibarri, creator of the current iteration of the Georgia Festival of Trees which debuted in 2021, decided to bring the Pink Pig ride back and got permission to use the name from Macy’s.
Trees are sponsored and decorated by corporate and nonprofit sponsors.
Moneys raised go to two nonprofit groups: Street Grace, a Norcross-based group that works to eradicate sexual exploitation of children, and Atlanta Redemption Ink, which removes or covers up tattoo brands that traffickers place on their victims.
A comparable festival of trees unrelated to this one ran for nearly 30 years to raise funds for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta but was scrapped in 2007 due to high costs and scheduling issues at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta.
Ulibarri noted there will be a fundraising gala on Friday, Nov. 22, and an “after dark” event with comedy on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 6:30 p.m. Children with disabilities have free entry on Monday, Nov. 25, and senior citizens will be able to attend free on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
This new Georgia Festival of Trees, also at the GWCC, drew 5,000 attendees its first year, 15,000 in 2022 and 18,000 last year. Ulibarri, at the new location in the suburbs, expects bigger crowds this year with hopes to exceed 25,000 attendees over eight operational days.
IF YOU GO
Georgia Festival of Trees with the new Pink Pig rides, Nov. 23-Dec. 1 with varying hours depending on the day. Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day closed. $18.95 for adults and children, $13.95 for seniors, Gas South Convention Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth, gafestivaloftrees.org.
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